Lady Punchers oust Knights in regional final

Mar. 1, 2008

West Holmes' Noelle Yoder walks off the court with her teammates after Friday's loss to Mifflin in the Division II regional championship game at Zanesville High School's Winland Memorial Gymnasium. / MATTHEW LEASURE/Tribune

Written by

DEVIN SHULTZ

Staff Writer

West Holmes' Mallory Arnold looks for an open teammate during Friday's game against Mifflin at Zanesville High School's Winland Memorial Gymnasium. / MATTHEW LEASURE/Tribune

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ZANESVILLE - Turnovers can be deadly.

West Holmes turned over the lead to Mifflin in the third quarter and never got it back as the Lady Punchers claimed the Division II regional crown 61-55 Friday night on Don Stahl Court inside Zanesville High School's Winland Memorial Gymnasium.

Mifflin (21-4) advances to the state semifinals next week at Value City Arena in Columbus against Kettering Alter, which topped Dayton Carroll 49-37 for the Vandalia regional title Friday night.

Losing in the regional semifinals last season, West Holmes exited at 20-5 after advancing one step further. However, the Lady Knights were done in by 21 turnovers compared to the Lady Punchers' 12.

"I don't know what the turnovers ended up being ... but I guess that was the case," said West Holmes head coach Lisa Patterson moments after the game ended.

West Holmes led 14-13 after one quarter and 27-26 at halftime. The Lady Knights were on top 34-33 with 3:21 left, but Mifflin reeled off 12 straight points for a 45-34 command going into the fourth. Amber Arter, who easily led all scorers with 32 points, scored the final seven in that run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Arter's last five points in the run were critical, as it appeared a pair of officials' calls let Mifflin stretch the lead out beyond West Holmes' reach. Arter appeared to have tripped over her own two feet near midcourt at 26.3 seconds, but West Holmes was whistled for a foul and Arter hit both ends of the one and bonus.

On West Holmes' ensuing possession, the Lady Knights turned it over on a questionable jump ball call under the basket as Shelbie Henderson was trying for a rebound score. The possession arrow favored the Lady Punchers, Arter sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Mifflin's lead went from 42-34 to 45-34.

Despite the adversity, West Holmes fought to within 49-47 as Noelle Yoder sank a 3-pointer with 2:11 left, but J.D. Campbell converted two free throws at 1:31, and Arter nailed 10 consecutive freebies over the final 1:16 to ice the win.

"At the start of the third, we didn't come out like we needed to, to start the second half," Patterson said. "That's when we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. It's hard to overcome that and let it get to whatever it was, 11 I think.

"The kids didn't quit though," Patterson continued. "We got it back to four. We fought. We knew they were going to hold the ball. We've seen them do it, once they get up. That's what they do. So then you're forced to put all kinds pressure on them and exert all kinds of energy.

"We certainly didn't lay down and quit."

Arter finished 17 of 20 at the line as Mifflin was 27 of 35 as a team, with West Holmes only 8 of 9.

"You've gotta foul the person that has the ball and it seems like the ball was in her hands a lot," Patterson said. "That wasn't our goal, we wanted to foul somebody else, but you can't let the clock keep running."

But Arter's free throw shooting briefly went cold before that game-ending run. She missed the front ends of one and bonus situations at 7:27 and 5:25, and also missed the first of two shots at 4:12, which accounted for her only misses. Campbell also missed two shots at 3:53.

"Last game we were 12 of 15 from the free throw line," Mifflin head coach Troy Taylor said. I don't know what the numbers are, but as a coach, sitting on the sideline, when you're missing those front ends and they're going down and converting on 3s, it becomes real hard ... but down the stretch, I thought we nailed them and we put it away from there."

Campbell added 11 points and Trish Mack 10 points and six rebounds for the Lady Punchers.

Yoder and lone senior Mallory Arnold each had 12 points for West Holmes, while Sarah Hammond contributed 11 points, three assists and two blocked shots. Kayla Oswalt just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Patterson was pleased with the team's success this season, even if the goal of going to state did not materialize. Everyone returns next season except Arnold.

"They did everything," Patterson said. "They laid it all out on the floor tonight. We did everything we could. Our shots didn't fall when they needed to and theirs did."